Harbor Life Ministries

A donor has stepped forward and said that a matching donation will be made for any gift up to $2,000 between now and the end of the month!

What a great way to put your gift to work. It will be doubly important to the women, girls and babies, as well as their family and loved ones, who are helped through Harbor Life Ministries.

Please click the “DONATE NOW” button to make a contribution to life.

Thank you!

I have an image burned in my mind that I want to replace. Lysa is sitting on the floor of the bathroom cradling her son, trying to keep him warm while massaging his little chest. I don’t want that to be what I think about when I remember Keith and his mother Lysa.

I have set up a web page that I hope attracts some attention and giving. I hope that Keith has an impact through his memory, a memory of a loving mother who came to Harbor House to get help with her pregnancy so she could give life to her baby.

Please, if you are moved to remember Keith this way, visit my web page and make a donation. The goal is $1,000. That may be lofty in this economy, but I believe God has all the money that ministries like Harbor House need in the hands of His people. All they have to do is trust Him and let go, as He leads them to give.

Thank you. For Keith and Lysa.

Click on the “FirstGiving” button to visit the donation page…

Now just a memory, recalling the evening brings a smile. It was intimate, much more intimate than other years where 400-500 people attended.

This year, just 133 people, but that brought everyone closer, and the quality of the speaker, the sincerity of the testimony, nothing was lacking there–in fact, it was probably the best (yeah, I know, you think I say that every year) Sharing Banquet that I can remember.

The young lady, Amber, who shared her pregnancy experience and how she got the help she needed, summoned up an emotion that everyone listening felt. I knew her struggles, I knew her joy at finding someone who stood with her through the difficulties.

14-year-old Hanna shared via video (she lives in Arizona and couldn’t miss school) how she discovered she was pregnant and all the implications for her: the near-abortion that was scheduled but then reconsidered and skipped, her parents finding a maternity home along with the odd “God-sighting” when they found out there was a shepherding family from HLM right near their family, and how Hanna came to renew her walk with God through the experience. If you haven’t seen the video, you should. Hanna’s Story…

Finally, there was Jeannine Floores. Founder of Sarah’s House in California and Breath of Life Ministries in Austin, Texas. Quite a resume Jeannine has. Since I’m married to a maternity home founder, this will be familiar and boring, I thought. Ha!

Jeannine claims to be adult ADHD and I have no problem believing her.

“Why,” she queried as she began her time at the podium, “if you know Bill (Rieth, HLM board chairman) is going to tell a joke (note: she had been fore-warned of Bill’s traditional ‘groaners’), do you allow him to get up here and do this to you year after year?” Her puzzled gaze was met with a smile from Bill and an uproar from the 132 others who had “suffered” earlier from his humor.

The laughs didn’t stop there, but Jeannine was also very poignant as she related her own personal story of growing up a pastor’s daughter, getting pregnant before she was married, and how she dealt with the relational damage in both her family and her church.

Jeannine then let us know that she didn’t come to Ohio because she was paid. (This I knew already, and yes, I admit I do look for bargains in banquet speakers.)

“Tomorrow I get to meet my daughter’s parents for the first time. They live about an hour-and-a-half from here and I’ve never met the people that have raised my little girl.”

I am so glad that I don’t take care of the ministry’s finances anymore. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think about them a lot, just less than every waking moment, as I’m sure Tami did before she had her baby. Now I’m sure she thinks about wailing, feeding, soothing, and diaper-changing in the wee hours of the night instead of accounts payable.

There was a donation that came in the mail yesterday from our anonymous donor, the one who underwrote the expenses here for a year. It was designated to cover a few bills that were outstanding from renovation and repair work done to the house late last summer.

One of the bills, for labor to install new shingles on the garage, had already been paid when the work was done, so this part of the donation was now free to be used in other ways. That went to paying the staff, who have been gracious and understanding during this time. I’m praying that God continues to meet the need.

If you’re reading this and want to help, it’s an easy click to Network for Good, where you can make a donation to help.

We continue to thank our God who is faithful to meet our needs.